Split Apart
by Irish Nobody
Summary: Sarah wasn't all she seemed to be, and now through the fiddling of some never before seen characters she has a chance to be all she is and relive the story. Starting at Chapter the Thirteenth, this story can be considered to be on the cupse of a crossove
1. Default Chapter

Split Apart  
  
Irish Nobody  
  
===Disclaimer: the original characters Sarah, Jareth, Hoggle, Ludo, Mr. Worm, Fierys, and Sir Didymus ect. do not belong to me, nor do the lines from the original movie (these are used only to advance the story and I take no credit for them, they were created by Jim Henson or which ever genius who wrote the original script). New characters are from of my own imagination or suggestions of the Chicken (my little sister #1) or my friends. Any relation of characters to actual persons is purely coincidental cough, cough. Okay--here we go now. ===  
  
Chapter the First  
  
"Goblin King, Goblin King, where ever you may be, come and take this child of mine far away from me!" Sarah cried holding Toby up far above her head.  
"'That's not it!' 'Where'd she learn that rubbish? It doesn't even start with I Wish,'" Anne murmured in exact copy of the goblins in front of her.  
Chremslied just shook his head and gazed at her. The sixteen year old girl in front of him was curled up with her face barely an inch from the screen, body bleached of color and simply reflecting those thrown from the screen. This could be because the volume was turned down extraordinarily low. Chremslied had no problem hearing it from his perch of course, but that was to be expected. Very stealthily he stole a piece of bread from the loaf right beside Anne and cocked his head to the ceiling.  
Straight above Anne was her "guardians'" bedroom, but no unnecessary noises issued forth. Chremslied could hear the steady breathing of Patty and Johnny as they slept in their comfortable queen sized bed. Chremslied's low growling sounded just like a creaking tree limb in the wind as he thought about the pair sleeping above him.  
* * *  
Anne was eleven years old when Chremslied had found her; it would be six years ago in one month and three days. (Has it been so long? the thought came, interrupting his reverie). She had been in a magnolia tree reading, of all things, a copy of Labyrinth she'd printed from the Internet. Chremslied had nearly fallen off his branch when he'd caught a glance of what was typed on the legal sized paper.  
What fool went out and made a novelization of it? he'd thought. Is nothing allowed to fade into obscurity anymore?  
Chremslied had been hoping to find some rest amongst the tall branches of the magnolia away from the scurrying mortals that never ceased bustling. Upset when he had discovered Anne reading, his curiosity eventually got the best of him. Understandably more upset when he'd discovered what she was reading (Jareth would not be pleased with this outcome), he went on to actually look at the child reading the story with such avid hunger.  
She, quite simply, took his breath away. Her eyes were a greenish- blue, her skin pale, her face lightly dotted with freckles, and her hair was dark and thick. She looked so much like Sarah that Chremslied thought he'd managed to get caught in a time warp and was in the past. The only real difference was the fact that her hair was only shoulder length (she was recovering from a very bad case of head lice which had caused her hair to be whacked off) and that her copy of Labyrinth was not the same Labyrinth that Sarah had read.  
Then she spoke, "'Well, since I'm pointed in that direction, I guess I'll go down.' What a moron! I would have gone up! At least the castle was close at hand that way, and humans don't work well in the dark anyway." She smacked the paper with her hand. A quick grimace of pain flashed on her face, but quickly disappeared as she continued reading.  
Startled at her sudden outburst Chremslied actually jumped, then smiled wryly at himself. At least she doesn't have Sarah's voice, nor her thought process, maybe I'm not caught in a time warp after all.  
Now completely intrigued, Chremslied crawled around behind her. Looking over her shoulder, he tried to discern what had caused her grimace. Then, he saw it. Her right hand was burned. It looked as if she had placed her hand on a window seal, fallen asleep, and had not woken up until a good two hours had passed. (Chremslied would later find out that she'd spilt boiling water on her hand when she accidentally sloshed it from a bowl during intense distress). Shocked at such an unusual injury he decided to actually stay with this peculiar human.  
That night when Chremslied followed Anne to her house he was introduced to the horrors of abuse. Patty and Johnny never actually laid a hand on Anne, but they may as well have. They continuously lashed at her with barbed tongues, wounding her emotionally and mentally. Anne was in a constant state of nervousness around her guardians. One time after Chremslied had been with her a month, Patty had made a motion as if she was going to throw a vase at Anne, which caused Anne to back out of the room so fast she tripped over a table leg and fell down the stairs.  
Chremslied gritted his teeth at Patty's reaction. "You clumsy oaf. You'll be lucky if you ever live to be twenty, let alone make anything of yourself." She had laughed cruelly and then went back to her room as Anne painfully clambered off the floor. She had a bruised cheek, shoulder, and other aches for about a month.  
* * *  
Suddenly Chremslied heard the creaking of floorboards. Startled out of his reverie he realized that Johnny had awoken and was approaching the stairs. Probably to get a midnight snack, he thought. Quickly he darted around the television and laid a finger against its side. The television "mysteriously" flickered off.  
"Oh," Anne huffed quietly and went to hit the television when she heard the stairs creaking. Her eyes widened in distress.  
Hurriedly she unplugged the tiny television and pushed it in her small cupboard. Then she unplugged the VCR and shoved it under her cot, quickly pushing random clothes from the floor in front of it. She thrust her face into the pillow and tangled the sheets about her legs. Taking a smothered breath she counted quietly to five and relaxed her body as much as possible. She did her best to regulate her breathing as she strained to hear the footsteps as they padded through the house.  
For several minutes, everything seemed fine. Anne let out a sigh of relief, and then spasamed when she heard the refrigerator door slam. Chremslied winced.  
"Where the &*$% is my food?!" Johnny swore.  
It was all Anne could do not to tense and pretend that she was still asleep. Please, please don't let him come here. Please just let him drink some whiskey and go back to bed. Please Lord, just let him go. Don't let him come in here.  
To Anne's intense dismay, she heard him march to her room. Her door flew open and banged against the wall. "OLIVIA ANNE MCCONNLEY!" Johnny shouted and proceeded to flick on the light.  
Anne squeezed herself into a ball and then opened her eyes slowly, feigning drowsiness. She could sleep through anything, but a light would wake her up in an instant-Patty and Johnny knew this.  
Before she lifted her head she quietly sobbed into her pillow, "I wish the goblins would make you leave me alone, if just for this night."  
Chremslied seized his chance. Quickly he darted to Johnny's side and whispered quietly to him. Johnny glared at Anne when she looked up at him. "Anne! If you don't have me my food ready immediately after you wake up in the morning, you're dead! Understand!"  
"Yes sir, but.you're.you're.snacks take time to prepare, the brownies alone take at least an hour," she nearly sobbed.  
"Fine! Whatever, just make sure you get it done or that you're working on it when I get up in the morning!" Johnny growled and left, pausing to flick off the light (at Chremslied's suggestion).  
Anne was so astonished that she just sat in shock for a moment. She then collapsed in relief on her cot whispering a 'thank-you' to the night as she quickly fell asleep in exhaustion.  
Chremslied looked at her sadly, "You're welcome. If only Jareth knew." 


	2. Chapter the Second

Disclaimer: I own none of the original _Labyrinth _characters. They belong to Jim Henson, may he rest in peace. New characters do belong to my imagination. This means that Chremslied belongs to me, thank-you-very-much (envious friends growl in frustration). On with the story my cheerful wanderers.

Chapter the Second 

Jareth lay sprawled on his throne like a disjointed doll. The throne room was suprisingly quiet, although it was only shortly after midnight. It was also conspicuously lacking in goblin paraphernalia. In the back of is head he could hear the multitudenous murmurs: 'I wish the goblins would take you away right now!' 'I wish Jareth would come to me.' 'I wish that the Goblin King loved me.' 'I wish the goblins would make you…' Jareth growled and flung himself on the floor and began pacing. He noted peripherally that he needed to have the floor filled in where he had been pacing.

It had been seventeen years since his failed wooing of Sarah and sixteen years since the subsequent film explicitly revealing his failure. Even more painful, the movie had (ironically as well, mayhap) come out exactly one year after Sarah and her entire family had died in a car accident. Actually, those years would be wrong in a few days. _Another year come and gone_, Jareth thought noticing the stars through the window. Soon he would go Aboveground to Sarah's grave, as he had every year since her passing.

Chremslied stood defiantly in front of Jareth, his hands firmly on his hips. His brown eyes a rich coffee color, signifying his anger. "I don't care for what your bloody soul feels! Sarah didn't choose you! Or, you could be right and she is your soulmate, but you didn't exactly give her time now did you!"

"I gave her everything she wanted!" Jareth's eyes were almost bioluminescent in rage, "She had thirteen hours! She said the words, right before wishing her brother away!"

"Sometimes what we want isn't exactly what we need! Maybe you shouldn't've given her her dreams all at once! Maybe you should have been who you are instead of who you are and her apparent nemesis. Nothing like confusing an already bewildered fifteen-year-old to destroy any current hope for a relationship!"

"And what would you know about any of that, Cousin? As I recall your wooing didn't exactly go as planned either, what makes you the expert all of a sudden?"

"At least I had the sense not to befuddle the poor girl. And for your information, we're still Pen Pals! Good things come to those who wait, as the saying goes. Which is far better than what you have! It's been what? A year since you've had any dealings with Sarah? You threw in all your cards at once and the jackpot went way outta your hands. Hell, Dareth you haven't even," Chremslied shut his mouth when he realized his slur. He hadn't mispronounced Jareth's name since he was the human equivalent of seven years old.

"Beautiful impediment Cousin," Jareth sneered.

"At least I'm not a feared of it!"

Jareth prepared to make another scathing comment when he felt a tight pull in his gut. The pain was so intense that he actually doubled over and fell to his knee. Chremslied's eyes widened in shock and quickly dropped beside his cousin and grasped his shoulder.

"It's Sarah isn't it?" Chremslied inferred. He remembered the only time this happened to Jareth. Jareth had been recovering from a hangover and Sarah had been about four years old. He could remember it as if the incident had happened yesterday.

"She's dead," Jareth gasped on the floor before him, just as he had twelve years ago.

"You said that before, and she wasn't. Heck, she only had a paper cut," Chremslied pointed out.

"No," Jareth hissed through gritted teeth, "it's more this time."

"So, she broke her leg. Nothing to get into a sweat over," Chremslied tried for humor as Jareth broke into a sweat. "Look, if you're so worried, you can always check on her through a crystal."

"I…can't…"

"Fine! Then I shall!" Chremslied huffed and pulled out a crystal. Concentrating as hard as possible, he brought forth Sarah's image. And almost dropped the crystal in shock. "_Die Immortalis!"_

Jareth looked up to see what had elicited Chremslied's Latin swearing. Within the crystal was an image of what was once Sarah Williams. Where there was once a pretty seventeen-year-old, brown haired, blue-green eyed young girl there was now a jumble of blood. Sarah's face was lacerated by glass, her neck bleeding from where the seat belt had yanked against it, her left side almost completely crushed from where a car had broad sided theirs when it ran the red light (at eighty miles per hour from off the interstate), and she was currently upside down from where the car had flipped. But, even more horrifying, she was still alive. Blood dribbled from her mouth from the rib damage.

To the surprise of both Fae, Sarah began to speak, "Anne…" she moaned.

Jareth's eyes widened in shock and shared pain Sarah felt when trying to speak. Anne had been Sarah's imaginary friend when she was four until she was about ten and was named after Sarah (her middle name being Anne). No thoughts of Anne had crossed Sarah's mind or influenced her being since she was at most twelve. Jareth had thought she'd completely forgotten about her and was amazed that she'd call for her now.

"Anne, help me. Don't let me…keep me…" Sarah suddenly cried out in agony.

Jareth grabbed his heart, its beating becoming irregular. Chremslied dropped the crystal and reached for cousin, hoping to infuse him with his own strength. Right before the crystal broke Jareth heard Sarah's call for him.

Instantly he transported himself to her side. "Sarah," he whispered her name lovingly.

Sarah opened her swollen eyes and looked at him. "I hated pause the Escher room. Pause It made me dizzy pause to see you and Toby pause upside down and pause sideways. This isn't any better," here Sarah closed her eyes again and struggled for breath. Jareth reached out and touched her cheek. "I realize now pause what happened pause all those years ago. Please," her voice grew suddenly intense and lost the rasping note, "promise me you'll watch over me! Promise me!"

"You know I shall," he swore, heart breaking.

Sarah grimaced and started hacking, blood splattering on the interior. "Watch after Toby, make sure he stays out of trouble. I'm not him pain anymore, hum! Anne! HELP ME ANNE!"

Jareth felt a searing bolt of pain as Sarah screeched and drowned in her own blood. He wondered at her call for her childhood imaginary companion as he felt a tug toward oblivion and toward his own home. He looked toward Toby, only to find the boy dead from a sliver of glass in his temple. He cried and surrendered his well to the opposing forces tugging at him.

Chremslied's pull proved the stronger. Jareth found himself looking up to his cousin's toffee colored eyes. "Even at the end, she called for someone else to help her instead of me. Even in the end, her last person of comfort wasn't me." He wept as his cousin transported the two them to his bedchamber and cast a spell of rest over him.

(_Damn Chremslied!_ Jareth fumed, only partially in anger).

Sarah's death had hit him hard and it took him months to get over his despair. He had gone to her funeral in the form of an owl. He had spent two weeks standing over her grave in owl form during the day and all night vigils in his true form. Chremslied had worked hared in pulling him from his morose cloud of despondent dejection. Finally, about nine months after Sarah's death, Jareth had been able to return to ruling his kingdom. He regained some of his former self.

Then, disaster had struck a second time. A movie entitled _Labyrinth_ had opened on the anniversary of Sarah's death starring two mortals who looked almost identical to himself and Sarah, and had all the details f his failed venture for Sarah's love. In rage Jareth banished his cousin from the Underground since he was the only one who could have possibly told his story in its totality to anyone else.

"The movie was all his fault," Jareth said, trying to convince himself again. The truth was, however, he rued his intense emotion induced banishment of his best friend and cousin.

In a fit of irrational anger after Jareth had discovered the movie's existence he had confronted Chremslied. Not allowing his cousin any defense, he proceeded to cast him into goblin form, ban him from his kingdom, ban him from the Underground, and take away any possibility form him to return until his love story was wiped completely from the minds and memories of all mortals.

"Admit it your Majesty, you miss him."

Jareth stopped his pacing and turned sharply to face the voice. Sitting on the stone floor was a water elemental. His left leg curled under his body, his right leg was bent up and supporting his chin, his hands were loosely clasped and lightly on the middle of his right shin.

"I don't recall addressing any statement to you or calling you to my presence Fred. Where is your brother?" Jareth replied coldly.

"My twin is up to his usual mischief," Fred cocked his head and smirked, river blue eyes twinkling in merriment. "And you don't need to address any statement towards me for me to reply to it. It's quite obvious what you were thinking, what with the anniversary so close. Speaking of which, I've brought you the water lilies that you wanted."

Jareth's cold exterior melted slightly. "I hope Sam isn't leading stray Labyrinthians into the Bog again."

"I don't think so," Fred gave true smile. His slightly transparent skin took on a pink tone to offset the castle-wall-gray.

"May I please have the flowers?" Jareth asked nicely. It never ceased to amaze his other underlings the different attitude he had toward the identical water elemental twins.

"Of course, your Majesty," Fred rose in a fluid motion. Concentrating, his skin took on an algae green shade and slowly a dozen pure white water lilies appeared in his cupped hands. "They'll be fully in bloom on the 27th. I take it you'll be visiting her grave at the usual time."

"Yes, why?" asked Jareth, instantly on guard for the twins were ever mischievous and filled with plots of all sorts.

"Oh come, come, come your Majesty. Stop being so paranoid," Fred frowned, "all I was saying was that maybe you should arrange to meet your cousin. It isn't like he won't know where you' d be. It's been nearly seventeen years since y'all last spoke. I think you should at least talk to him on neutral territory."

"Sarah's grave is hardly neutral territory."

"You both loved her if in different ways. And although he most likely won't be able to return Underground, y'all might be able to repair the huge chasm between y'all."

"Would you stop using 'y'all' in every other sentence? I don't recall making you my advisor, or your brother for that matter."

"My apologies your Majesty. I didn't mean to give you advice. Still, it couldn't hurt now could it?" Fred tossed his dark wavy curls from his eyes as he gave Jareth one final smile before seeping into the cracks in the stones.

Jareth gently held the dozen water lilies as he stared at the spot in the floor Fred had been standing on. "No, it couldn't hurt. Not unless Chremslied…" Jareth sighed, realizing he'd spoken his cousin's name aloud for the first time in sixteen years. _Not unless Chremslied hates me and refuses to forgive my stupidity._


	3. Chapter the Third

--- Who foolishly believed they'd get through this story without at least one mention of Sam and Fred? I laugh at your ignorance. Be prepared for them to pop up randomly again. A little not of warning to readers, this next chapter may be a little confusing. Also, my chapter titles - if anyone has ever read "The Hunting of the Snark" by Lewis Caroll, in which every section is entitled 'Fit the -' this is the allusion to that. Or maybe I just like the wording, you decide. Okay, I'll stop my little interruption. --- === Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Labyrinth characters. Sam and Fred are mine (as they have ever since appearing on my shoulders three years ago) as well as Chremslied (no, I'm not going to share him with anyone, he's all mine). And any other knew person that appears belongs to me, too. Lyrics to 'White Wedding' belong to Billy Idol, lyrics to 'Always' belong to Saliva, and 'One Headlight' belongs to the Wallflowers (I think). I use these songs only to advance the plot (and because I like them, so there). Witness the continuation of the legacy that Jim Henson began over a decade ago. ===  
  
Chapter the Third  
  
"Hey little sister / nice day to start again."  
  
Chremslied cracked open his eyes. Billy Idol's 'White Wedding' came from the radio he was sleeping on, vibrating his whole body. Through his lashes he saw Anne dancing in the middle of the floor. He sat up and stretched, Wonder why she's in such a good mood today?  
Anne reached over and picked up her favorite stuffed animal. "Gone, gone! For three whole days! The house is mine for three whole days! Isn't it great!"  
Dancing with her toy she made the perfect image of a carefree child. Effortlessly she shifted her steps to accompany, "One Headlight." To think that she's turning 17 tomorrow, Chremslied mused, then his eyes widened in shock. Jimminy Cricket! She's turning 17 tomorrow! I don't have her birthday present!  
Regardless of the fact that Anne didn't even know Chremslied existed, he believed in giving her a birthday present. Ever since the first year he had given her something special. Last year he'd managed to lay his hands on a fist edition of Lady Chatterly's Lover which he'd been able to sneak into the book section of a garage sale.  
Anne had nearly choked on her gum when she'd found the book. The owner had been surprised when Anne had insisted on pay $75 (all her allowance) for it. Luckily, the owner hadn't bothered checking out the book and would only accept the $1 the book was labeled for.  
This year Chremslied would have to give Anne something doubly special. But what, and how? Anne was a hard person to buy for. She never really wanted anything and her guardians wouldn't allow her to even own certain things. Add that to the fact that Chremslied didn't exactly "exist" Aboveground made giving the present just as hard as getting it.  
I'll just have to enlist some help this year. Now, if only I could get in touch with someone still in the Underground, he left Anne still singing along with the radio.  
***** *****  
"This place is old, it feels just like a beat-up truck / I turn the engine but the engine doesn't turn / It smells of cheap wine, cigarettes this place is always such a mess / sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn," Jareth found himself singing as he surveyed his domain from the window ledge of the throne room.  
Those words fit pretty well, he thought. Then he realized where they came from and clapped his hands over his ears. "Aargh! When will these people leave me alone!"  
"Beg your pardon?"  
Jareth whirled. In front of him was a water elemental with thick wavy hair. "My brother said you wanted me, your Highness," the elemental bowed.  
"That was nearly two weeks ago Sam," Jareth scowled.  
"I know. He only found me last week. I came as soon as I was able, your Highness," he stood upright, piercing Jareth with his sea green eyes.  
"What if I had need of you then?"  
"You would have come yourself or sent a crystal for me," Sam smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Either way, your Highness, it obviously wasn't a need of an instant. I'm also willing to bet you're sorry I showed up in time at all."  
Jareth narrowed his eyes, "In time for what?"  
"For me to tell your cousin your wish to meet him at Sarah's grave tomorrow night, of course, your Highness," he threw out his hands as he fwoppled to the ground.  
"And what," Jareth raised his eyebrows as he approached Sam, "makes you sure about that?"  
"Come off it, your Highness. I am not one of your lackeys or subjects. Neither was your cousin. I reckon the three of us know you better than your mother did. What else would you want me for at this time of year?" Sam cocked his head at Jareth and rested his arms on his crossed legs.  
To the intense surprise of Sam (no mean feat) Jareth laughed. "Indeed. Yes, I would appreciate it if you would contact my cousin. I forget what you and your brother are. If he decides not to come, tell him I understand."  
"Aye, your Highness. Keep up the singing, it'll help when the next girl comes along," Sam bubbled as he sank though the stones.  
The only thing worse than incompetent goblins is competent water elementals, Jareth mused at the floor.  
"Hoggle!" He sent the command out as he headed towards his chambers.  
***** *****  
"I love you I hate you / I can't get around you / I breath you, I taste you / I just can't live without you," Anne sang as she pulled the blue-green angel food cake from the oven. "So that's what it looks like with that mixture of food coloring. Very tasty either way," her mouth watered, "all you need now is for me to inject that raspberry filling."  
She gently placed the cake o the cooling tray. Still dancing she pulled the sweet tea from the fridge and poured herself a tall glass, belated remembering she wanted ice. Shrugging her shoulders she put the tea back and snagged a Granny-Smith apple from the nearby basket. Scooping up her glass she booggedy to the living room and plopped down on the cushy, black leather, E-Z Boy nearly sloshing tea everywhere.  
Gently placing the tea on the coffee table, she expertly tossed the apple up, picked up the remote, and snatched the apple from the air with the opposite hand. "Times like these, there's nothing better than to be alive," she sighed as she crunched into the apple, clicking the television on.  
"Alright! A marathon of Buffy starting in ten minutes! I live for moments like this. Shoot, the only thing better than this would be to spend a thirteen hour vacation in the Labyrinth," she chuckled to herself and clicked to the proper channel continuing to sing to herself, "Does it make you feel more like a man / was it all a part of your plan / I can feel the pistol shaking in my hand."  
***** *****  
Chremslied stood at a river about fifty miles from the city. He had been starring at it for about thirty minutes. How in the world does one make contact with a willful water elemental? Suddenly water rose in a column in front of him.  
Stepping back he laughed, "Some entrance, though not as dramatic as I'd expected. Which one are you?"  
"Seventeen years and you've already forgotten? I expected more from you. It's Sam, and will you please go visible? There aren't any humans about, I'd like to see you," Sam leaned back on the wave and crossed his arms.  
Chremslied shook his head. "No, you don't."  
"I shan't help you with anything 'til I can see you."  
Scowling, Chremslied concentrated on becoming visible. The air appeared to expand and contract as he came into sight. About two feet high, a mass of stringy hair, a beak, thin long fingers, and a tail; he couldn't have look less like himself.  
Sam laughed, "Jareth really out did himself on you. I would never have guessed."  
"Ha, ha, thank-you," Chremslied shook his head. "Okay, you see me, now will you help me? I need to get my hand on a peach."  
"Why don't you go pick one? Aren't they in season?" Sam looked at him with large, innocent eyes.  
"Stop acting naïve. I don't need a peach, I need a Peach."  
"Why?"  
"It's for a birthday present."  
"Oooh, Chremslied's got a girlfriend. Chremslied's got a girlfriend."  
"Will you shut-up? She's not my girlfriend, I've just been living with her for the past six years."  
"Like that sounds any better," Sam smirked as Chremslied covered his face in embarrassment, "she's turning seventeen this year, right?"  
"How'd you know?" Chremslied asked, sharply, dropping his hands.  
"It's my job. How many girls do you think are there who look almost exactly like Sarah? Fred and I've known about her since the day she was born. So, why do you want to give her a peach?"  
"I told you, for her birthday present. Figure I could give her a Peach Dream, she loves Labyrinth more than anything, I'd swear."  
"Okay, I'll do it for you. For a price."  
Chremslied asked, eyes narrowed, "What's the price?" in a voice reminiscent of a police giving the third degree.  
"Nothing much, Jareth just wants to meet you at Sarah's grave tomorrow night."  
Chremslied's eyes bugged, "He does?"  
"Yowp."  
"But that means.that means.oh my, gothsh!"  
"Be careful, that impediment could betray your excitement," Sam lifted an eyebrow.  
Chremslied just smiled.  
***** *****  
The library was located deep underground. Hardly anyone visited anymore. As a matter of fact, it had been nineteen years since the last visitor. And eleven years between that and the one before. A slow drip could be heard echoing, and puddles reflected the lights of spells.  
"Geez, where's the Crypt Keeper?"  
"Very funny."  
"Glad you thought so. Well?"  
"Yep, I think she'll do it."  
"That's good. Enough time has passed."  
"How will you get anywhere near it?"  
"I've hidden it. If things go as they should, he'll trigger it."  
"As long as she says the right words."  
"Are you sure this Mobius spell will work?"  
"It's the most powerful spell here. If Time doesn't fix it, nothing will."  
"Poor Chit. I hope it works."  
"You and me both."  
"Will you-know-who remember?"  
"It should just be you and me, and him from setting it off."  
"Do you think anything will happen to her? I mean, the nature of what happened and everything."  
"Maybe, I'm not sure. I'm surprised it happened at all?"  
"That she lived through it, or that it'd been done?"  
"Both."  
***** a day passes *****  
"It's my birthday, it's my birthday! And the Jerks aren't home!" Anne sang to nobody at all.  
Chremslied smiled as he followed her drunken meandering through the house. She'd stayed up all night watching the 'Buffy' marathon, and had only stopped (just now) at the commercial break to use the bathroom and snag another slice of angel food cake. Once he was sure that she was in the bathroom he hurried back into the kitchen.  
He hopped on the counter top and laid the peach in the fruit basket. "Happy Birthday, Anne!" he said lovingly. Now it's time for me to make my rendezvous with Jareth.  
After a few moments Anne came out of the bathroom. She went into the living room to see if her show had come back on (it hadn't), and then went to the kitchen. As she was slicing a piece of cake she notice the peach. She picked it up and then sat at the table, taking a meditative bite from the cake.  
"Now where," she mused, "did this come from? I'm pretty sure it wasn't here earlier. Still."  
***** *****  
Jareth gently lay the blooming water lilies at the base of Sarah's gravestone. As he rose, the wind tousled his white hair and made his black cape float out behind him. He could still hear the murmur of believers in his mind. His ears picked up a soft crunching noise, like that of a mouse moving in the grass.  
"You used to move in such a way that silence was loud," he spoke softly, not turning.  
"Mayhaps I wanted to heard. It's been a long time, Cousin."  
"Yes, too long. Let me see you, Chremslied," Jareth whispered his name as he turned.  
The air shimmered, appeared to expand and contract. In front of him stood a tall, young man with tangled mahogany hair, pale skin, long fingers, and a lightly curved nose. Pale golden-brown eyes gazed at him through a sheen of tears. Slowly the hands reached up to touch the face.  
"You look good, Cousin."  
"Heavens, I'm back!" Chremslied started weeping. Startling Jareth he reached over and gave him a fierce hug. "I've missed you so much, Jareth."  
Still a little shaken Jareth hugged him back. "Apparently you didn't miss me that much, you said my name correctly."  
Jareth pushed Chremslied back and looked at him. His lopsided smile was just as he remembered, hair a little longer than it had been eighteen years ago.  
"You know what the worst thing was, these past years?" he asked, gently shaking Chremslied.  
"Not having me to contemplate your plans at?"  
"Well, that too. But everyday without ceasing I hear these mortals calling me out."  
"Really?" Chremslied blinked, surprised.  
"Yes, even now. Do you want to hear?" Jareth had already started removing his gloves.  
"Sure, just like old time," Chremslied laughed and touched Jareth's face at the same time Jareth touched his.  
  
"Now what should I do with this peach?"  
  
Chremslied recognized the voice in his head.  
***** *****  
Anne licked the crumbs off her finger as she regarded the peach. She lightly rolled the fruit on the tabletop, spinning it with her fingers. She picked it up and tossed it. The light coating of fuzz shone and slightly dazzled her eye.  
"Well," she caught it effortlessly, "what the heck? I mean, it's probably been here the entire time. What's the worse that could happen? Me make a wish and it coming true? In that case I'd just wish to be me." She chuckled as she bit into it.  
Immediately, she doubled over in pain as her world and body started getting shredded at the seams.  
***** *****  
"Jareth, I can explain," Chremslied started saying.  
But Jareth wasn't listening; his eyes glazed as he doubled over, clutching his stomach. Chremslied reached down for his cousin, stopped, and watched in horror as the scenery around him began dissolving and as Jareth's form became indistinct. He cried out in terror as he watched his own flesh start shifting.  
***** *****  
  
"ACK! I'm dissolving!"  
  
"That's good."  
"It's working then?"  
"Ye-ah."  
"Maybe there is some hope after all." 


	4. Chapter the Fourth

--- Well, that chapter was a little long. Hope y'all were able to follow it alright. The term 'ego' in this chapter is used to mean 'myself.' I would also like to thank the late and great Douglas Adams for creating the word 'fwopple.' What a wonderful word. --- === Disclaimer: Labyrinth characters do not belong to me. Sam, Fred, Chremslied, and Anne do. (Patty and Johnny I create as well, but who would want to claim them, aye?) Labyrinth characters belong solely to the magnificent Jim Henson. Enjoy. ===  
  
Chapter the Fourth  
  
The world was a deep midnight blue. An impossible blue. Had it not the dread sense of futility and foreboding and familiarity it could be considered tranquil. What was once Olivia Anne McConnelly cried out in rage.  
No! No! It's not my time! I'm NOT ME! The feeling splattered like electricity.  
EGO a call came back through the distance.  
"Anne" turned toward the call. Before her was a mirror image. A half image, a broken image. A mostly human form with torn wings and no light. Hollow eyes gazed at her.  
ego "Anne" replied to "Sarah Anne Williams."  
Simultaneously the two souls reached to touch. Instead of the other's "hand" though, they came upon a partition liken to that of glass. In a rage "Anne" pounded on the glass.  
No pull, I wasn't called like before she said to Sarah.  
Nor when I "Sarah" replied.  
Something happened, maybe. "Anne" hesitated.  
Esse "Sarah" said gleefully.  
But I can't break it Anne started to waver.  
But, I almost did "Sarah" wavered as well. In the next moment, their "thoughts" were as one once more.  
Now I have help. This spell can not keep me from myself any longer. The fool who did this made the mistake of not killing me in my weakness of the original splitting. Instead I grew even stronger through the separation! Hah! I'll give over knowledge for this the split soul howled with power.  
Turning into two balls of expanding energy, the split soul of Sarah Anne Williams rode the wave of power form the Mobius spell. The spell that had sliced her apart began to get small cracks. Finally, it began shattering.  
For one swift moment of eternity, Sarah Anne Williams was in pure spirit form. Wings the size of a small solar system shone like oil in a puddle of water. Hair like a pillar of flame and eyes the accumulation of every ocean in all of the known realms. Her exuberant laughter twisted and bounced in a torrent of silence.  
Then she vanished and the world went back to its tranquil blue.  
***** *****  
Quick tears were blinked away in oddly jubilant eyes. They glanced down at the bright red, seeping line on the right index finger. The tiny squeak of pain was farther in the past than any other thing on the planet. A tiny smile quirked the edges of the child's mouth. The child stuck her finger in her mouth and glared at the paper with the unintelligible scrawling. She made a mental note to avoid the subject 'til she was older. Tired of tasting copper, the child decided to cry for her mother - and a Band-Aid.  
***** *****  
Chremslied suddenly found himself supporting the weight of a severely drunk, incredibly hung over Jareth. "What, in the Name-of-All-Insanity is going on here?" he wheezed out, perplexed.  
Jareth looked at him with blood shot eyes. "The after math of a really great party. You sober imbecile," he slurred.  
"Oh!" Chremslied stuttered with sudden comprehension.  
***** *****  
"Eeew! This place is a mess!"  
"Well, duh."  
"It hasn't been like this since."  
"Yes?"  
"Woo hoo! We did it! We did it!" "Elementary my dear old chap. Now, help me clean this place up."  
***** *****  
"Curses!" the seemingly soft exclamation reverberated through the room, cracking the delicate porcelain vase on the mantle. 


	5. Chapter the Fifth

--- Well, I hope y'all were able to follow that last installment. I know it was kinda short (I guess that makes up for Chapter the Third) although still slightly confusing (I guess that doesn't make up for Chapter the Third), but it said what was needed. Whoo for me, almost done with exams, which is why it's taken so long for this to come up. Yeah, slow poke that I am, having to deal with Chremslied giving me the evil eye for not getting a move on.

maniacal laughter Yes! I went to Trilogy Tuesday and got to see all three LOTR back to back to back! Y'all all must go and see ROTK A.S.A.P. because it is so great. Bask in the glory that is Pippin (Billy Boyd) and listen to his absolutely beautiful solo. Merry and Pippin rule!---

Disclaimer: None of the original _Labyrinth_ nor its characters belong to me. Sam, Fred, and Chremslied do. They are my children, 'my precious.' Ack!

Chapter the Fifth 

Chremslied looked in to the mirror and smiled. His thick mahogany hair was just long enough to curl at the ends and form thick ringlets along his forehead. He reached up to push the ringlets from his earthen brown eyes. His long, delicate fingers gave no sign of seventeen years worth of abuse from being a goblin.

He stepped back from the mirror. _Sarah's sixteen, _he thought bemusedly, _again._ He adjusted the cuffs of his butter cream blouse and straightened his vest. _I wonder if she'll do what she did the last time_.

Chremslied turned and walked out of the room, contemplating. Tonight was the night Sarah would wish her brother away. If Anne did nothing. Chremslied had become aware, over the years, that when Anne made her wish she'd somehow combined her essence with Sarah's and thrown them all back into the past. He didn't know or understand just how this happened, but he knew that it had.

At certain points in Sarah-Anne's life (as Chremslied usually called Sarah in his thoughts) she did different things than Sarah had. This caused very subtle differences in both realms. _You know,_ Chremslied thought during these reflections, _I think Jareth's more in love with Sarah-Anne than he was Sarah._ Another big difference between Sarah-Anne and Sarah was that Sarah-Anne never had an imaginary friend called "Anne."

Chremslied reached the throne room. The goblins had yet to make their entrance, so the room was peaceful and not too terribly messy. Jareth stood at the window almost ready to watch Sarah at the park.

Jareth turned when he heard Chremslied's gentle cough. "Well, well. You do look professional cousin. I hope your lady is duly impressed."

Chremslied smile, "Thank-you, Jareth," he hesitated a moment, "Jareth, if by chance Sarah-Anne calls you tonight…don't overwhelm her too much. Keep in mind she's only sixteen and giving her everything she wishes for may not be wise."

"Why do you always insist on using her full name? Just because you are lucky enough to be dining out does not mean that I, too, shall be enjoying female company."

But while Jareth was saying this Chremslied noted how Jareth _almost_ imperceptibly straightened his vest. He watched Jareth turn into an owl and fly out the window before he sighed.

_Well, _he thought, _here we go again. At least I already know the outcome of my date._

Sarah-Anne Williams stood before Merlin, her sheep dog, and glanced at the owl that had just alighted on the statue. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Opening them on the exhale she spread her arms so that the bell sleeves hung just so, "Give me the child. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is as great…"

In the background thunder rumbled. Sarah looked up, _Well that's excellent timing_. "For my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is as great…and…and…" _Come on, come on. I know this line._ "Phooey!" she exclaimed.

She took the book from her pants pocket (she'd cut a hole in her dress for just such an occasion) and flipped to the page she wanted. "'You have no power over me.' Why can't I ever remember that line? You have no power over me," she closed the book and started repeating the line, "you have no power over me, you have no—" a particularly loud thunder crash cut off the rest of the sentence.

Sarah frowned up at the sky as a raindrop plopped on her forehead. Then the clock started chiming. Ignoring the minor raindrops Sarah counted the chimes with trepidation. Once it reached six she knew she was in trouble.

"Dang it! It's seven o'clock. Come on Merlin, we'd better get going. I bet Karen's having a field day. It's just not fair!" she scowled, lifted her skirt, and ran.

Darting through the park she kept muttering the last line from her monologue. Taking pleasure in the rain beating down on her, she tried to remember the irritating line. Once she reached her street, however, her dialogue changed (due largely to the stitch in her side).

"Oh, it's not fair. Why do I always have to watch Toby every Friday?" she complained to Merlin. "For once can't I have a Friday to myself? It's not fair, not fair, not fair…" she chanted in time with her steps.

She looked up once she saw her sidewalk. Karen stood in the doorway wearing her dark blue evening dress and large necklace. She was also staring pointedly at her watch. Sarah slowed to a trot before coming to a halt before the porch steps.

"Sorry," she huffed as she moved her hair that had plastered itself to her face.

"Don't stand in the rain, come inside," Karen said.

Sarah sighed and motioned for Merlin to follow her. "Not the dog!"

"But it's pouring!"

"It doesn't matter. Besides, he's sopping wet."

"Go into the garage Merlin," Sarah said thinking: _Besides he's sopping wet. Puhleeze. Not fair!_

Sarah got to the foot of the stairs before her stepmother could start in on her. "Sarah, you're an hour late…"

"But I…"

"Ah!" Karen made 'that noise' which never failed to irk Sarah, "let me finish. Your father and I go out rarely…"

"Oh yeah, every weekend is definitely what I call rarely."

Karen merely raised an eyebrow and continued, "I only ask you to baby-sit if it won't interfere with your plans."

Sarah's jaw nearly dropped in disbelief. She turned and started up the stairs so her stepmother couldn't see the anger in her eyes, "Well maybe you should ask me. You never ask anymore."

"I assume that you'd tell me if you had a date. It's good to have a date at your age," Karen said in defense.

Sarah watched her face go blank in the mirror. _You know what happens when you assume things…As if I wanted a date! How stupid! Just because I don't have a date doesn't mean that I don't have plans! Unfair._

Before she could think of an equally caustic and blasé response her father came down the stairs carrying Toby. "Oh, Sarah, you're here. We were just starting to get worried."

_We were just starting to get worried_, she cruelly thought. Sarah suddenly felt like bursting into tears, "Ooooh, just leave me alone!"

Quickly she stomped up stairs and into her room. Refraining from slamming the door, she nevertheless locked it behind her. Her glance skimmed over her room as she peeled off her dripping dress.

On the wall by her bed was Escher's _Relativity_ poster. Beside that, a cupboard of squares holding her stuffies. Low bookcases lined the walls. Her desk was covered with odds and ends.

She picked up the ballerina music box and turned the key. "Greensleeves" tinkled as the girl twirled under the tiny gazebo. Sarah pulled on a dry pair of blue jeans, a white blouse that reminded her of a pirate's shirt, and satin white vest with cream flowers embroidered on the front and tied in the back. She sat before her dresser and pulled on her favorite slippers.

She looked at the pictures adorning her mirror as she brushed her hair. They were of her mother and her mother's co-star, Jeremy. Each one displayed smiling faces. Beside the photographs were newspaper clippings proclaiming her mother's brilliance.

Sarah smiled wanly at herself in the mirror. The beating rain and gentle music began to calm her. She took a paper crown from around the doll she had on her dresser and began applying some lipstick. She began quoting the passage again, "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the child that you have stolen…"

A tapping at the door interrupted her. "Sarah?" It was her father. "Can I talk to you?"

"I don't know, can you? There's nothing to talk about," she rolled her eyes. Her father made no reply, so she turned toward her door in disgust, "You'd better hurry if you aren't to be late."

"We've fed Toby and laid him down. He should be asleep soon, and we'll be home by midnight."

Sarah listened to his footsteps recede. Her disgust rose with an added tinge of anger. "You really wanted to talk to me, practically broke down the door!"

_Lousy parent_, she thought wiping off the lipstick and tossing the crown on her dresser. Scowling she threw herself on the bed and reached up in a cubby hole for her bear; which was not there. She turned up an around in disbelief at the empty space.

"Lancelot! Someone's been in my room again. I hate that!" she bounded off the bed and headed for Toby's room.

_I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. It's just not fair!_ Sarah stood in the doorway and looked in the room. To one wall was her parents' bed, across from that Toby's crib, off to one side was a rocking horse. There, there was Lancelot; lying abandoned in the middle of the floor.

"Lancelot! I hate you," Sarah said vehemently to Toby while scooping up her bear.

Startled at the sudden loud, angry voice Toby jerked awake. Upset from being jarred so rudely from sleep he started crying.

"Oh!" Sarah complained, clutching her bear and putting her hand to her ear. "Won't someone save me from the cursed fate of having to watch you all the time?"

She leaned over the crib and scowled. Pretty soon her scowl dissolved as she watched her brother cry pitiously, after all, she really did love him. "Hush now. You want a story, hmmm? Want a story?" she cooed softly.

Turning from the crib she paced trying to think of something to quiet her brother. "Once upon a time there lived…uh…" she paused and looked at Toby. Suddenly, she remembered her book lying on the dresser.

"Once upon a time there lived a young woman much like Cinderella. Every night her evil step-mother made her take care of the baby. The baby was good but spoiled, because the girl had to do everything the baby wanted, and was practically a slave.

"But what no one knew, was that the Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl and had given her certain powers."

She paused, listening to Toby's cries. She sighed and picked him up, gently rocking him before continuing. "One day, after the babe had been particularly nasty she called upon the goblins for help. They told her all she had to do was say the words, and they'd take the baby away forever.

"But the girl knew that the baby would be turned into a goblin, so she refrained. However, after another month or so the baby was again bad. Unable to control herself she lifted the child above her and called out, 'Goblin King! Goblin King! Where ever you may be, come and take this child of mine far away from me!'"

Toby had settled down in Sarah's arm, again nearly asleep. She smiled down at him and told him a secret that she almost never even admitted to herself. Never before had she ever said the words. "Sometimes, I wish the goblins would take you away."

Toby said nothing, just yawned. Gently she placed him in the crib and had just reached the doorway, when a loud thunder crash erupted. Once more awakened from peaceful slumber, Toby stared crying for Sarah to come pick him up.

Irked, Sarah flicked off the light switch, "Like right now," she murmured, and walked out the room.


	6. Chapter the Sixth

--- Oh my goodness gracious, I am soooo awful. I apologize for not putting up anything in over a year. I started writing this chapter last Christmas and only now (19 November, 2004) just finished. Forgiveness? Please? Actually, I'm asking more from Sam and Fred and Chremslied than y'all. No joke, last month Chremslied appeared while I was popping something in the microwave, sat down at the table, looked me straight in the eyes, and told me (quite gently in a steely sort of way) that I need to get my rear in gear and write the stuff down. ---

Disclaimer: Original lines from LABYRINTH are used but do not have quotes signifing which ones they are. I recognize that I did not create them but that the engenius script writer did. I use them only to further the plot and take no credit for them. The original characters: Jareth, Sarah, Hoggle, and Co. do not belong to me, they belong to Jim Henson. (Yes, I'm being very careful with the disclaimer stuff, copyright's a bugger and as all my people remind me, I must make sure to get the story out without having to worry about that extra stress).

Chapter the Sixth

Sarah took about two steps in the hallway, then stopped. Outside she could hear the rain and occasional thunder blast. Inside she heard the ticking of the grandfather clock and the house's own peculiar groanings. She did not hear Toby crying.

_Since when did babies stop crying mid-cry?_ "Toby?" she called and went back into the room. She tried the light, but it didn't come on. She flicked it several times. _Must've blown out_, she thought nervously.

Suddenly she heard a noise from the crib. The blanket contorted several times, then lay still. Hesitantly, she approached the crib. Holding her hand to her mouth she whispered, "Toby?" There was no response.

Chiding herself, she quickly pulled back the blanket. A low mewling came from her throat as she backed away from the crib.

The empty crib.

As if on cue lightening flashed and thunder sounded, accompanied by a racket at the window. Jumping around Sarah saw a white owl trying to get inside.

"What in the..." she started, but was stopped by an eerie chuckle.

Turning swiftly she saw a shadow disappear behind the chest of drawers. 'It's just the lightening making funny pictures,' she tried to tell herself. From the corner of her eye, Sarah could see a lump move underneath the covers of the bed.

Spinning around to confront the snickerings, Sarah saw nothing. The owl continued to flap against the window-pane as Sarah twisted around in place trying to see what couldn't be there.

'So this is what it's like to go crazy,' she felt a terrible smirk start to slither onto her face.

A whip crack of lightening darted outside the window, illuminating the room like the Fourth of July. Simultaneously, a raucous blast of thunder sent her hair end just as the window flew open.

Feeling like one of the "See No Evil" monkeys, Sarah threw her hands over her face. Concentrating on the ground she prayed that the owl wouldn't ram into her.

Thunder, snickering, and flapping wings assaulted her ears. Wind blew against her body like a small gale. On the floor a shadow began creeping toward her.

Sarah lowered her hands; stepping away from the shadow, she allowed her eyes to travel the length of the floor. Up a fine pair of leather boots. Up a pair of tight gray pants. Up a shiny black waistcoat. Over the gold sickle with crystal necklace...to the oval face and long, moonlight blond hair.

"Errr," her mouth said.

'Hell no! Hell no! Inconceivable! This isn't real!' her mind said.

The man stood in a Peter Pan/Superman pose as if waiting for her to say something.

Blurting out a cleaner version of her thoughts, Sarah heard her words, and winced. "I hope you won't find me terribly rude, but would you be so kind as to tell me who you are because you can't be, I mean..."

A soft, not quite aristocratic, silken British voice replied, "You know very well who I am," as he took a step toward her and folded his arms across his chest.

The cream sleeves and black gloves registered somewhere in the back of Sarah's mind. She felt her head tip forward, jaw dropping. "You really are him aren't you? You're the Goblin King!"

'Captain Obvious hath spoken folks,' her mind sneered.

'Oh, shut-up! But that means—'

"Please. Um, you would not happen to have anything to do with the occurance of Toby's sudden, inexplicable non-existence within his cradle would you?" Sarah babbled.

She felt like smacking herself in the face. 'For once a character comes to life and all you can do is sound like some cheerleader trying out all the ten cent SAT words!'

"'Cause I'd like to know where he is if you do."

Valiantly she ordered her mouth to stop moving. To her amazement and pleasure, it did what she told it.

"You know very well where he is," the Goblin King chuckled, the right corner of his mouth quirking upwards.

'What is he? Some kind of mind reader?'

"Oh, well. In that case...could you maybe Bring Him Back?!" Her hands moved with every syllable, her voice becoming sarcastic by the last words.

In the dim light, she saw his eyebrows arch. "Sarah," he moved his right-foot forward and started to lift his left hand, "go back to your room. Play with your toys and your costumes. Forget about the baby."

A little flabbergasted, Sarah huffed, "Uh, no." She decided to add in a glare for good measure.

For a long moment, the two locked gazes: the Goblin King clearly seeing every aspect of Sarah's face whilst Sarah hoped that she was making eye contact with the Goblin King since his face was shadowed.

In a dramatic gesture, the Goblin King flourished his right hand while dropping his left to the side. "Sarah, I've brought you," a crystal sat glowing on his fingertips, "a gift."

She turned her head and cut her eyes. "What is it?"

"Just a crystal," he shrugged. "Nothing more. But if you turn it this way and look into it...it will show you your dreams."

As he spoke he began to juggle. First in his palm, then on the back of his hand. Back and forth, back and forth.

"But this is not a gift," he passed it to his left in the same sliding manner, "for an ordinary girl," his right, his left, "who takes care," his right, "of a screaming baby." He brought it up to his fingertips in a halt, "Do you want it?"

'Shoot, I want to learn how to Do that!' her hand began to move forward.

"Then forget about the baby," he smiled.

Lightening flashed outside once more. Sarah clenched her fist, gritting her teeth. "You know that I'd be lying if I said 'no.' But, no. I want my brother back more, if it's all the same to you."

The Goblin King's lips twitched ever so slightly. With a light toss of his head, he scoffed and, turning his hand ever so slightly, the crystal turned into a snake.

Sarah's eyes widened.

"Sarah," he spoke gently, "don't defy."

As though in mockery of his tone, the snake flew to her neck as he effortlessly tossed it. Horrified, Sarah grasped as it wrapped itself 'round her neck. The texture swiftly changed from that of scales to silk as what had once been a snake dropped from her hand to the floor as a scarf.

The scarf bundled in and shook itself. Underneath appeared a green goblin head with glowing red eyes. The goblin snickered like the rest of his brethren, skittering off into the shadows of the room.

A look of perplexity crossed Sarah's visage. Quickly she turned to face the chortling behind her, only to witness draws slamming shut and cloth moving to mark the goblins' departures. More slowly she again faced the Goblin King with a look of annoyance on her face.

"You're no match for me Sarah," he said, just a little mockingly.

She tilted her head, "Well, maybe that's true. Still doesn't change the fact that I need to get my baby brother back from you."

The King of the Goblin's racked his eyes over her once more in a reappraisal. A grin twisted his lips as he pivoted, motioning with a flourish out the window. "He's there, in my castle."

Approaching the window, Sarah took in the site. A classical medieval castle spired in the air as though from a fairy story. Towers and turrets there were, and spire and domes. The vaguest outlines of pennants on rooftops stood out against the dimly light sky. The rest of the area was shrouded in shadow.

Awestruck she whispered, "Is that the Castle Beyond the Goblin City?" She turned back toward him.

Instead of the room there was now brown sky and a barren hillside. Wind still whistled, but it was no longer storming. Just terribly, terribly overcast. A twisted tree stood to the left and small brambles dotted the ground. The Goblin King took a step toward her.

"Turn back Sarah, turn back before it's too late."

"I can't. Can't you see that I can't?"

"What a pity."

He walked up until he was just behind her left shoulder looking down on her in such a way that Sarah couldn't be sure if he was being serious about the last comment or not. 'Not that it matters if he was being serious or not. I have to get Toby back.'

"Doesn't look that far," she said, turning back to the castle.

"It's further than you think, and time is short."

Jerking her head back, she through him a querying glance. Something caught in her peripheral vision. Turning to better see the glint, Sarah saw an antique clock caught up in the branches of the twisted tree. However, instead of reading the normal twelve hours, there were thirteen.

"You have thirteen hours in which to solve the Labyrinth," he said sternly, "before your baby brother become one of us," here her eyes widened, "forever."

'One of them? And what did he mean about a labyrinth?'

As Sarah's mind threw up ponderings to his statements, the Goblin King began slowly backing away. Much to her amazement, he also began to disappear with each step he took.

Right before he completely vanished from sight, she heard him murmur. "Such a pity."


	7. Chapter the Seventh

-- Well, well. Here it is friends. Coming up immediately after the last one as well. I'm trying to make up for not getting anything out in forever. On a personal note, I'm doing this instead of revising the four papers that I have due in English 101 on Dec. 2nd (yes, I'm in college now). Or studying for Latin for which I am doing horribly in. Oh yeah, now that I'm able to use italics, Sarah's thoughts are in italics. Enjoy. --

Disclaimer: Any original bits of LABYRINTH that appear are only to further the plot and I take no credit for them. At all. I'm sure y'all are getting tired of these disclaimers, but just bear with me. Original characters that appear are mine however (or I'm theirs, haven't quite figured that part out yet). The song Sarah is humming is "Heroes" by David Bowie. Apparently both of us are fans.

Chapter the Seventh

"Well," Sarah pursed her lips, "that was interesting to say the least."

Turning back to view the castle, Sarah became aware of a light growing. Slowly the vista unfolded below her.

_So, that's what he meant by 'the Labyrinth'_.

Acres and acres of twisting, twining roads snaked beneath her. All were barred by some kind of structure, be they walls or hedges or something Else. Certain pockets definitely looked like their own environs and it appeared to have cities within the grand walls that bordered the whole image. The walls spread out into an impossibly long line, and continued into the horizon beyond the castle itself which stood (as she could now see) on a jagged, high hill.

Sarah blinked and sucked in a deep breath. Blowing out the air, she huffed, "Well, come on feet."

She trasped down the hill. The thudding footfalls were the only sound other than the wind. To keep her mind occupied as she steadily worked her way to the Labyrinth's outer wall, she began to hum quietly to herself.

"'We could be heroes, just for one day…'"

The wind had subsided as Sarah reached the base of the hill. Over her hum-sing she heard the steady tinkling of water. Redirecting her gaze from the looming walls she turned toward the sound.

Immediately her face began to flush. The sound came from what had to be a dwarf. He wore a red skullcap and tan vest which depicted a face on the back; he stood on the edge of a tiny fish pond filled with murky water. He was relieving himself.

"Erhmrahm," Sarah coughed into her hand, studiously avoiding looking at him. From the corner of her eye, she saw him jump.

"Gah-ha!" he sputtered.

The sounds of clangling reached Sarah's ears. Looking over slowly, prepared at any moment to revert her eyes, she studied the dwarf.

He had an overly large, bulbous nose and great, white bushy eyebrows perched upon partially sunken eyes. The eyebrows were incredibly expressive and served to heighten the surprise in his clear blue eyes. His hands were huge when compared proportionally to the rest of his body. The fingers were long and knobby, liken unto an old man's who spent his life as a gardener. Hanging from his belt, nearly touching the small, curled red shoes he wore, dangled a collection of ornaments and jewelry.

The surprise quickly faded from his eyes and a look of scorn took over his countenance, "Oh," he huffed, "it's you."

"Hmm?"

But he was no longer paying attention. Swiftly he grabbed an old spray can from beside him and darted to the scrubby flowers that clung to the massive, worn walls.

Following, Sarah saw what had grasped his attention. From one of the flowers flew out a fairy.

It had long, glass like blond hair and a ten-year-olds youthful face. The diaphanous gown appeared see-through, yet all Sarah could see was the wall behind it. The transparent wings beat like a hummingbird's.

"Oh," Sarah gasped.

Euphorically the dwarf squeaked the spray the spray can at it. The fairy made a mewling sound as it fell to earth.

"Fifty-seven," he cackled.

Sarah gapped in shock, "You monster!"

Swiftly she reached down and scooped the trembling fairy in her hands. "How could y—Ouch!"

The dwarf turned on hearing her yell. Sarah dropped the fairy exclaiming, "It bit me!" Then put the finger in her mouth.

He scoffed, "Well, what'd you expect fairies to do?"

_Eh?_ "I thought they did nice things…like granting wishes."

"Shows how much you know don't it?" he went back to spritzing fairies. "Fifty-eight."

Nursing her pride as much as her finger she spat, "You're horrible."

He stopped again, turning back around, said, "No I ain't. I'm Hoggle. And who might you be?"

"Sarah."

"That's what I thought. Fifty-nine." He'd gone back to the fairies.

"Uh, look, do you think you could tell me where the door to the Labyrinth is?"

He glanced over his shoulder, "Maybe."

_Greeeat_. "Well, where is it?"

"Sixty!" he triumphed, and proceeded to grind the fairy into the dirt.

"I said: where is it?" she shouted.

"Where's what?"

"The door!"

"What door?"

"The door into the Labyrinth! Gaarrh!" she growled, exasperated.

It only seemed to amuse Hoggle. "A door? Into the Labyrinth? Oh, that's a good one," he chortled.

Sarah glared and felt her hand curve into a fist. Throwing her hands into the air she exclaimed, "It's hopeless asking you anything, isn't it?"

"Not if you asks the right questions," he sniffed a matter of factly.

Sarah's mind ground to a halt. _The right questions? Oh dear angels in heaven, this is like when you have to tell someone how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while assuming his is a Literalist._

"How do I get in the Labyrinth?" she tried.

A little grin lit his face as he turned toward her, "Ah, now that's more like it. You gets in…there."

He pointed behind her. Sarah turned and witnessed a massive twin gate, which hadn't been there earlier, swinging out and open.

Hesitantly she approached the open gates. The inside walls were even more dilapidated than the outside walls. Taking slow steps inside, Sarah saw lichen clinging, dead branches littering, and smuckering. All in all, not the most appealing setting for a stroll.

"Cozy ain't it?"

Sarah 'bout lept out of her skin in reaction to Hoggle's query. He bent over and laughed.

"Bully to you, too," Sarah glared, rubbing her arms.

Hoggle straightened. The glint seemed absent from his eyes. "You really going in there, are you?" concern crept into his voice.

_Don't think about it 'cause you'll turn and run_. "Yes, I suppose I must."

Hoggle raised an eyebrow. "Alright then. Would you be going left," he turned his head, "or right," he turned his head the other way and gestured.

She turned around in a complete circle. The routes looked exactly the same. Right on down to the dead branches laying across the paths.

"They look exactly the same."

"Well, you're not going to get very far, are you?"

"Well which way would you go?" she asked, not a little snidely.

"Me?" he pointed to himself. "I wouldn't go either way," he tossed his hands and shook his head.

"Well, if that's all the help you're going to be you may as well go bugger off," the sarcasm all but dripped from her mouth.

The gibe landed solidly. Hoggle brought himself close to her and thrust a finger in the direction of her face. "You know what Your problem is? You take too much stuff for granted!" He began pacing, "Take this Labyrinth for example, even if you do get to the center, you'll never get out again."

Pride once again wounded, she replied smugly, "That's Your opinion."

"Well, it's certainly a lot better than Yours!"

Sarah turned her back on him, facing down to the right.

"Thanks for nothing," she said, then murmured, "hooligan."

"Oooh, it's Hoggle! And don't say I didn't warn you!"

"Don't worry, I won't!" she began striding down the path.

Behind her she heard Hoggle 'harumph.' Then, the gates clanged shut.


	8. Chapter the Eighth

-- Well, looks like she's gone and made the same mistakes all over again, eh? Still, I guess you could argue that it's because she doesn't remember it happening before. Oh, this is all so very confusing. The song herein (I can't remember the title, you'll know it when you get there) is by the Turtles. --

Disclaimer: Mr. Worm, Jareth, and all the others are not mine. As a matter of fact, neither is Chremslied, but for comparison's sake we'll say he is. Just like Sam and Fred. Although they maintain I belong to them.

Chapter the Eighth 

Sarah paused in her strident march. Glancing over her shoulder she saw that the gates were indeed shut.

_Well, it's not like I had the option to turn back anyway_.

Squaring her shoulders, she took a deep breath and continued on her way, ignoring the wary looks the lichen cast her. Over dead branches she stepped and promised herself that no matter what she'd come upon she would not be deterred.

Wonder why he got so affronted when I called him a hooligan? Must have thought I was mispronouncing his name or something. I wonder if I could climb over these walls, it would make things go much faster. Eh, nah. I'll break my leg trying to scramble over these things. And what is with all these dead branches when there aren't any trees?

"Imagine me and you 

_I do_

_I think about you day and night_

_It's only right…"_

"Argh! Why is it called a labyrinth? It's not twisting or turning or anything!" she suddenly burst out.

She stopped and turned around, then looked back forward. In both directions the passage stretched out into the horizon. Something Hoggle said niggled at her mind.

"Wait a minute, maybe I'm just taking it for granted that it does."

She began walking again. Slowly her feet started moving faster.

_Might as well run. Besides, I'm barely moving fast enough to stay in the same place, there's no possible way I could move forward at this rate_.

Pretty soon she reached her fastest speed and realized why marathon runners never ran terribly fast from the starting line. Her endurance flagged, a stitch started developing in her side.

"Aaaaargggghh!" she roared in frustration.

To further express her aggravation, Sarah kicked the walls from which caused her such irritation. With a huff she flopped to the ground and leaned against the left-hand wall fully prepared to stare morosely across from her while she tried to puzzle out the quandary.

"'Allo," a high, chipper voice sounded to her left.

Looking over, Sarah was startled to find a blue-gray worm with a cherry red scarf 'round his…neck.

"Um, did you just say 'hello'?" she asked with slight disbelief.

"No, I said ''allo', but that's close enough," he shook his head and smiled even more brightly.

"But…you're just…a worm."

"Aye, that's right," he nodded.

_Ah-ha_.

"Come inside and meet the missus."

In spite of her former frustration, Sarah smiled. "Thanks, but I have a thirteen hour time limit in which to solve this Labyrinth. But there aren't any turns or corners or anything."

He chuckled, "Of course there is. The Labyrinth's full of openings. You just ain't seein' 'em. There's one right across here."

Sarah looked. The mud brown bricks and the tan spindly sticks passing themselves off as plants were all that were there.

"There's no opening, that's just wall," she said, perplexed.

"Sure there is, you just ain't lookin' right. Come on in and have a nice cup of tea."

Sarah stood and approached the wall. She titled her head and closed one eye. Nothing.

"Thank-you, but I'm afraid I don't have time. I'm afraid I don't understand. It's just a wall," she looked at the worm in confusion.

"Ah, you just try walkin' through it. Go on, go," he gestured his head energetically.

Her arms before her to act as buffers, she took a few tentative steps toward the wall. Once she reached the point her eyes told her the wall began, however, she found that there was still room to move forward.

Letting out a small gasp, Sarah continued to move forward until she reached another corridor. Delighted, she walked back out and looked at the wall.

_What an incredible optical illusion_. "That's so amazing. I never would have figured it out on my own. Thank-you."

The worm blushed a bit. "Awww…go on. Things aren't always what they seem in this place, so, you can't take anything for granted."

That's the second time somebody's told me that.

"Thanks, I'll remember that."

With a wave of her hand Sarah left the worm and turned down the right corridor.

"Eh, hope she solves it within the time frame. Good thing she didn't head done the other way, else she'd've gone straight to that castle. Never would have solved it then."


	9. Chapter the Ninth

-- Eh now would you look at that! She didn't even bother to try and go down the left way. The plot thickens. glares at Sam Alright, alright! I'll stop my musings and get on with the story. Jeez, it's not like this hasn't already happened already. Sheesh. --

Disclaimer: The original characters of the _Labyrinth_ came into this world not of my own fruition but Jim Henson's. All other that you will meet I will have been the first to introduce unless otherwise mentioned.

Chapter the Ninth 

Coming out from the corridor Sarah was pleased to find what appeared to be an actual maze. To her amazement the sky was also clear. The mud gray clouds that had dominated the sky just moments before where nowhere to be seen and the sun shown out merrily onto the world.

_Wait a minute_, Sarah paused on her way to a crossroad, _when I came in here, through the gates, I turned to the right. That meant that the outside of the Labyrinth was on my right and the inside on my left. However, when I was done talking to the worm, I went to the wall across from me, the wall which had formally been on my right. The Labyrinth shouldn't have been here, but in the opposite direction._

"Oooh, I'm confused now," she murmured to the stones.

To her left stood the castle reaching up to the sky. What appeared to be birds circled the turrets. Twisting pathways branched out from where Sarah stood. Before her stretched a signpost.

At least what _should_ have been a signpost was before her. Instead of helpful signs pointing out where to go and how long it takes to get there, there were simply hands pointing down the paths.

"Some help that is," Sarah mumbled, thrusting her hands into her pockets.

"Which way to go? No golden thread when you need it."

Her hand touched her lipstick case. She brightened.

"Well! Let's see…the Castle appears to be that way, why not?"

Bending down, she unscrewed her lipstick and drew an arrow in the direction she was headed.

approximately 30 min. later

It was cream coloured and brick, just like always. Impenetrable. A wall behind with the Castle loomed and she could not get around.

"Dead end," she muttered.

Shrugging her shoulders she backtracked to her last arrow which she had drawn a scant five steps before. Although she knew she had gone in on a left turn, Sarah sought it out anyway.

There it lay on the ground: a wonderful smack of sticky crayon red lipstick emblazoned on the dirt stone. It pointed in the opposite direction.

Sarah blinked and scowled. The arrow clearly pointed in the direction she had not taken.

"Hey! my mark's been changed! That's not fair!" she squawked in protest.

"Yer reyeght, it's naught fair," a Scottish drawl sounded from behind.

Startled, Sarah whirled around. Where there had once been a blank wall there were now two guards (dog guards by the look of it) behind large shields that looked like playing cards and holding lances, the one on the left wore red and the one on the right wore blue. To further the playing card illusion there were even heads beneath both of the guards. She blinked in bewilderment.

"But tha's ownly half o' it," the head below the fellow in red finished.

_And I thought things were strange already_. "Aah," Sarah started, none too brightly, "excuse me, but ... ah ... wasn't this a dead end just a minute ago?"

"No," the head (_Or fellow I suppose, he certainly seems to be a real person_.) below the fellow in blue replied, "that's the dead end behind you."

Again Sarah whirled around. Sure enough, there was no longer a passage but a brick wall behind her.

"Argh! It keeps changing! Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Wheel, tha ownly whay out o' here is ta take one o' these doors," the upside-down red fellow with the Scottish brogue replied.

"One of them leads to the Castle at the Center of the Labyrinth," the upside-down blue one, with an all too cheery voice continued, "and the other one leads to --"

("Bum bum bu bum," the blue one above him interjected.)

"- certain death!" he finished in a radio announcer voice.

"Oooo," they murmured in unison, in a fairly good imitation of creepy Halloween music, too.

_O-kay. Talk about disturbing._ "R-i-i-ght. So, which one is it?"

"Eh, whe canna tell ye."

"Why not?"

"Whe donna know!"

"But they do," the cheery one interjected (cheerfully) motioning toward the two right-side-up guards.

"Then I'll ask them then," Sarah said, feeling more and more as though she were in the psychiatric ward of a hospital.

"Nope, no, you can't ask us," the right-side-up one in red said, "you can only ask one of us." He sounded as though he could be an absented minded professor.

"It's in the rules," the right-side-up one in blue continued, "and I should warn you tat one of us always tells the truth and one of us always lies." He fairly quickly and sounded like a professor who giggled too much. He lifted his finger as though to make a point, "That's a rule, too," a pause, "he always lies."

"I do not! I tell the truth!"

"Oh, what a lie!"

The two upside-down fellows snickered as though it were all a good joke.

_It's like that damn frog from Grimm's fairy tales or something_, she thought peevishly.

"Alright, alright. Be quite so I can think, please. I know this riddle ... I just don't know the answer."

The guards looked at her expectantly as she began to pace.

She faced them and approached the one in red. "Okay, answer 'yes' or 'no.' Would he," she pointed at the blue one, "tell me that this door leads to the castle?"

The red one looked at his companion and then muttered with the fellow below him. "Uh ... yes."

_That sounded disturbingly a lot like a question_. "Right then. The other door must lead to the castle and this one leads to certain death."

"How do you know? He could be telling the truth."

"Then you wouldn't be. So if you tell me that he said 'yes,' I know the answer is actually 'no.'"

"But I could be telling the truth!" he sounded slightly offended.

"But then he would be lying. So if you told me he said 'yes,' the answer would still be 'no!'"

"Wait a minute," the one in red said, "is that right?"

"I don't know, I never understood it!" the other chuckled.

Sarah smiled broadly, "It's right! I figured it out, I just know it. Who knows, I may be getting smarter."

She walked through the right down once the blue guards shuffled out of the way.

She merrily told them over her should, "It's a piece of cake."

After which she promptly fell down the whole that opened up beneath her feet.


	10. Chapter the Tenth

-- Bloody hell but I seem to be making it a habit of not writing! So much has happened since I last updated. I'm now a philosophy major, having finished up her second year and is now trying to save up to go over seas sometime next semester. In this next chapter I shall deviate from the movie (I know y'all are just so upset about that) and begin to get back into the story proper. Sorry that it has taken so long ... but I couldn't just leave out part of the story and graduating from high school and passing my college course has been important. By the by, I did some minor changes to the second and fifth chapters (I corrected Sarah's age, I was off by one year). Enjoy! Oh, yes! "After All" lyrics by David Bowie from his _Man Who Sold the World_ album, original copyright 1971. --

Disclaimer: all original _Labyrinth_ characters and story lines are Jim Henson's and the script writer's. All new characters are mine unless otherwise mentioned. That means Sam, Fred, and Chremslied belong to me (although you won't be seeing them here).

Chapter the Tenth

Jareth frowned at his crystal. Toby slept in the center of the throne room, tuckered out from his earlier song and dance session. He was perturbed that she had gotten as far as she had, and he was even more amazed then perturbed that she had found a way to avoid the oubliette.

He was not surprised that she had not asked the correct question, although he was surprised she had chosen to go through the correct door. If she had gone through the left one she would have slid straight into the oubliette instead of falling into the capable arms of the Helping Hands. At that point Jareth had supposed she would go down, he was shocked that she had chosen to go back up.

Not that the Castle was now a hop, skip, and a jump away, far from it. The Labyrinth was always changing; in fact, it was more organic being than a built structure. True, certain landmarks always stayed in the same general area in relation to one another (e. g. the trash people are always somewhere immediately outside the Goblin City proper, just not always in the same direction), but the ways in which to get to those landmarks always changed.

It was the ever changing features of the Labyrinth that actually made it so difficult and -- at times -- perilous. It became hard to avoid the truly dangerous places. Very few people truly 'solved' the Labyrinth. At most they were able to get in it and out again.

Jareth's frown deepened. He had hoped she would have given up by now. Then he could have shown her 'mercy' and given her Toby back as a human. Of course, then she would -- to all appearances -- be in his debt. He could begin to start visiting her Aboveground as himself, earn her trust and friendship and, finally, her love. It would be all so much easier if she would just give up and he no longer had to play the villain.

But she hadn't fallen down the oubliette. He would have to recall Hoggle and find someplace else to trap her in a seemingly impossible situation.

Jareth sighed, "All my plans seem to be for naught. If only I could ..." he paused, "yes, that would be peachy keen."

He allowed a smile to creep back on his face. By the time Toby began to wake up the small smile had turned into a full fledged grin.

Sarah rubbed her arms where the Helping Hands had pulled her up. Her shoulders felt as though her arms had been wrench out of the sockets. _I think it would have been less painful if I had just climbed out on my own_, she mussed.

The walls around her were no longer cream but a shadowy gray. The sky above was still blue, but the sun didn't seem to be capable of fully illuminating the path. Looking behind her, over the hole of Helping Hands, she was unsurprised to find that there was no door but a long corridor.

"I was right about one thing: everything in this place does keep changing," she muttered.

Looking at the hole in the ground Sarah decided that the best course of action would be to stay on the side she was on instead of jumping ... besides, it was closer to the Castle on this side anyway. However, when she turned back to face forward to double check the assumption she saw only shadowy gray wall. She couldn't see anything over it, or the other walls.

The air seemed to turn chill. Sarah looked closer at the walls. They were completely smooth and utterly absent of lichen or any other organic form of growth. The stone had been fitted together so seamlessly that it was difficult to find where the masonry work was ... especially in the dim light. Sarah suddenly wanted nothing more than to go back down the hole. The darkness seemed more friendly.

_I made the decision to go up and so that's what I'm going to stick with. It's not as though it's night. Although I wish I knew how much time I had left. Nothing to do but keep moving._

With a great deal of effort she made her feet move toward the intersection before her. Above her the sky no longer seemed to be a friendly blue. It began to look like the dead blue of the computer screen at her high school. It was unfeeling and mechanical, staring at her like some kind of superior eyeball.

At the intersection she turned right without pausing to even consider the left passage. She feared that if she stopped she would be unable to move again. She began to hum softly to herself.

"Man is an obstacle, sad as the clown,

Oh by jingo

So hold onto nothing, and he won't let you down,

Oh by jingo ..."

Her voice faded into silence. It was very creepy hearing herself sing, and it did nothing to lighten her spirit.

An eerie malevolence seemed to seep from the walls. With every soft step she made Sarah felt it cling tighter to her skin. At time it even felt as though it were trying to penetrate her skin. He blood began to turn cold. It became hard to think without fear nibbling at her mind.

_Maybe this is what it means to be paranoid. Or to be crazy. Perhaps it's crazy with paranoia_.

A shadow moved.

Sarah jumped and smacked her right shoulder into the wall. Immediately she jerked away and began walking backwards. All the shadows were still. They remained one blank, single, impenetrable force unto themselves. Here mind had only been playing tricks on her. Her body, on the other hand, was not so lucky as to be tricked.

When her shoulder had hit the wall she had felt an intense, nearly electric, freezing pain. Turning around and continuing to her slow, shuffling walk forward, she peered down at her shoulder. Her shirt had a gray smudge on it ... and a faint stain of red. She could feel something trickle a little ways down her arm.

As her blood (for it surely could be nothing else) softly seeped from her wound Sarah felt the cold creep into it. Tears began to prick at her eyes.

_What is this feeling? It's as though all life was heated, as though goodness was anathema. What is this feeling?_ She thought as the first tear trickled down her cheek.

Almost imperceptibly the malice of the walls began to grow. It turned from a general unspecified hatred to a hostile intent. Sarah's steps became more and more hesitant. Finally, she came to a complete standstill.

_So_, she thought, quivering like a rabbit before the coyote, _this is what it means to be frozen in fear_.

After that thought her mind could no longer think coherently, it merely gibbered in terror.

Then somehow (perhaps through sheer dumb luck or perhaps from some unquenchable hope that there was more to the surrounding area than the malevolent silence) her ears picked up a noise. At first it seemed like just one noise. Then, still just on the verge of hearing, it became a distinguishable two. One held all the hopes of the world while the other held only nightmares.

Bypassing her brain the sounds carried straight to her feet and legs and she began running. Blindly she ran as fast as she could, trying desperately to reach the former sound and avoid the latter. For the first was before her and the second most definitely behind her.

As she ran both sounds, unfortunately, became louder. One clearly was a type of song. The other the sound, or sense of sound, was of some wicked thing breathing. The breath seemed to escape from the very walls themselves.

Her ears began to pick up the words of the singer. Whoever it was was singing a very cheerful tune, even if the words did not seem to fit with the melody.

"Oh my lovely

la dee da

it is ve-ry na-sty here

Oh yes, uh-huh

and la la la duh da duh da ..."

Sarah rounded the next corner and there the singer stood before her. It had halted its quick trot, as well as its words, in surprise at finding a stranger girl standing before it. Its shape was tall and thin, but all the rest of its features were indistinguishable through her haze of tears.

"Oh, dear," the singer said, sounding a bit uneasy.

The moment Sarah stopped before it the singer grabbed her hand and pulled her -- back the way she had just come from. Sarah started to scream -- either in terror or protest, she wasn't sure which -- when she was roughly pulled around a corner she not even been aware of, so intent was she in her headlong flight to the singer.

Sarah's legs began to burn. She had only thought she had been running quickly before, now it felt as though her feet didn't even have the chance to touch to the ground. Breathing became difficult. Unused to this much exertion, she began to trip over her own feet.

Without missing a step the singer roughly yanked her forward. It scooped her up and over its shoulder, her head hanging just in front of its abdomen. It continued running down the corridors, apparently knowing where it was headed, singly sweetly all the while.

( Author's Note: a few years ago a friend of mine pointed out a problem with Sarah's logic at the doors. After many a discussion, not only with him but all the rest of the Labyrinthian peoples that I know, and much diagramming I discovered that he was indeed correct. If you want to know more specifically what the error is, please just drop a message, or remark on it in a blurb about what you think about this chapter and I'll message you back.)


	11. Chapter the Eleventh

-- And y'all thought that the Cleaner's were the worse thing in the Labyrinth! shivers Luckily, Sarah didn't have to face what was chasing her and she was saved. Or at least, it seems that way. In case anyone was wondering, Sarah now has only eight hours left to find and rescue Toby. --

Disclaimer: All original _Labyrinth_ characters and lines are those of Jim Henson and Co. The original idea behind Sarah and Jareth was not mine … but this version is. All new characters you meet are mine, as it were, unless otherwise noted.

Chapter the Eleventh

Sarah felt as though they had broken through a barrier. She stopped crying just as the singer fell silent, its steps slowing to a stop. Gently, as though to make up for its earlier roughness, it set her on the soft ground.

They had left the shadowed corridors and burst out into what looked like Japanese gardens. The path was formed by small hexagonal stones of multiple brown hues. Bonsai trees loitered near what appeared to be Koi ponds. A sturdy bamboo bridge spanned a particularly large pond, beyond which Sarah could see the Castle.

"Sorry about that," the singer said in a downy soft voice, "I just thought it would be best to get out of there as fast as possible."

Sarah wiped her eyes and shook her head. "No. I mean, thank-you, it's alright. I really appreciate it."

She looked up at it for the first time. "Uh, I hope you don't mind my asking … but, what are you?"

"I'm a Songbyrd," it replied, making a gurgling noise in its throat. "My name is Draven. And you are?"

"My name's Sarah, and you definitely don't look like any song bird I've ever seen before."

He truly had no resemblance to the tiny avians that Abovegrounders associate with song birds. Draven stood nearly six-and-a-half feet tall and was wingless. His face was beakless, but the lower part of it curved out from his forehead with his tiny nose just above his chin. His eyes were incredibly large and round, but gave the appearance of being slightly smaller and elongated due to markings the colour of kohl that surrounded the eyes proper and continued off in a line about an inch long across the outside of each. However, instead of hair, what covered his head was actually golden downy feathers with a tawny, stronger crest rising up near his forehead and traveling down the back of his head … similar to and yet completely different than a Mohawk.

Both his hands and his feet were uncovered. His hands each had one thumb and six fingers that were long and thin. Instead of toes he possessed three claws and his heels were adorned with double spurs. Yet, his feet were not scaly, nor leathery, but covered with feathers about the same shade as the feathers on his head. It was then that Sarah realized that his entire body was actually covered in tiny, fine feathers (the way humans are covered with hair) that caught the light and gave the illusion that he was mutely glowing.

His attire consisted of loose coffee brown pants and a loose coffee-and-cream coloured shirt. Through the v-neck of his shirt Sarah could see strips on cloth snuggly around at least the upper part of his chest. It looked very tight and uncomfortable, she couldn't see how he could breathe, let alone sing, with such bindings.

Draven made the gurgling noise again, "No, I suppose I don't. I'm not exactly what you would find perched on your window seal am I?"

"Er, no," she blushed a little, realizing how silly her comment must have sounded to him.

"I was just teasing, I didn't intend to embarrass you," he gurgled and smiled, his golden flecked eyes taking on an extra twinkle. Sarah belatedly realized that his gurgling was actually laughter.

"Yeah, well … I guess I just wasn't thinking."

"Heh, it's a wonder you could even think at all. Most people can't, you know, after walking through the Malutiones' Domain. What were you doing there anyway?"

"I'm trying to get to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. What is the Malutiones and why weren't you crying like a baby?"

Draven's eyes dimmed. "The story of the Malutiones is a nasty one and one that should not be told too closely to where it lives. I was able to retain my sanity by singing."

"But when I started singing it didn't make me feel any better, it just made me feel worse."

He eyed her cricitcally, taking careful note of her shoulder. "Hmmm. Well, your shoulder needs tending to, and since I already saved your life I better finish the job. I'll tell you a little of what I know while doing so."

He led her over to a large, molted red boulder that was currently occupied by a particularly spry looking bonsai. They sat down beneath it.

"Before I begin the much abbreviated version of the tale, might I be so nosey as to inquire about why you're trying to reach the Castle?" he asked, rolling her sleeve up.

"I accidentally wished my brother away. I have (or had, I suppose) thirteen hours to get there and get him back," she tried to see what her wound could possibly look like.

"Don't look!" he said, turning her face away from her shoulder, "How does one 'accidentally' wish one's brother to be taken by the goblins?"

"I didn't know it would actually work! I mean … I was telling him a story about a girl who wished her brother away to get him back to sleep. Then I kind of admitted that I sometimes wished that the goblins would take him away, like at that moment because he wouldn't go back to sleep. If I had known that a bunch of goblins would have actually taken him away I would have kept my mouth shut. It just isn't fair."

"What isn't fair? That your wish was granted when you didn't mean it or wasn't expecting it to come true? Or is it that you have an obligation to rescue him? And if you had known would you have kept your mouth shut just so you wouldn't have had to come here and rescue him, or for some other reason?"

Sarah blinked at all the questions. She had never thought of the situation in that light before. As if sensing her need to ponder over what he asked, Draven began to hum softly as he rubbed on some salve. It wasn't until he was done with the salve that she felt she had an answer.

"I suppose I wish I had kept my mouth shut because I didn't honestly want my brother to be taken away. I mean … I didn't want to deal with his crying at the moment, I suppose you could say that I didn't want to watch him. I didn't want him taken away forever though. I just wanted a break. I don't ever want my brother taken away. I love him.

"As far as the fairness bits go … well, I never really thought about it before now. I mean … what's happened hasn't been the way that I wanted it to go."

"So, your basis for comparison to use the term 'fair' in these situations has been your own desires compared to what happens instead of the rules that govern the world balanced against the chances offered to you."

Hearing it put in such a way so bluntly made Sarah suddenly feel like a small and selfish person. Her cheeks turned scarlet and her ears began to burn. _Here I am complaining about a situation my own stupidity got me into to a person who suddenly had trouble thrust upon him for no reason other than the fact that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Oh!_

"You must think I'm a horrible person," she mumbled.

"What! Oh, no, not at all, at all. I was merely making an observation. I didn't truly expect one as young as yourself to take the whole world into account. One does tend to be self-centered for a good part of life until one realizes that there is more to the world. I did not intend for you to take the comment so personally. There, that should do it."

Sarah looked down at her arm. There was a swatch of cloth the same colour of his shirt wrapped around her arm. She pulled her dirty sleeve back over it.

"Thank-you."

"Like I said, it's best to finish what one starts."

Draven helped her to her feet and lead her back onto the path. Standing in the center of the path he considered the shadowy passageway they had just come from. The sun fell around the opening in the wall as though afraid to enter it properly.

"The Malutiones is evil. I am unsure of when it first set up its home in the Labyrinth, but it was not always here. I do not know what it looks like, whether it's male or female, or if there are more than one. All who I know of who might be able to tell you that answer, are dead.

"What is known for sure is that it hates all life, or, at least, all good things about life. It is rumored that a creature as twisted at it is, a person who's heart is filled with bitterness and malice, can safely walk it's paths. For anyone else, it seeks to destroy them. A person who is truly good can battle it, but there is no guarantee that person can surpass it.

"The best one can hope for, walking through its Domain, is to remain undetected. To enter bleeding, or to touch its walls, is sheer folly. Blood drives it wild with hunger and its walls let it know exactly where the trespasser is … not to mention they have a leeching type of force all there own.

"The best way to go through and remain sane is to sing. You said that you started to sing … was it a cheerful song?"

"No, not exactly. I always thought it was a little sad."

"That's why you felt worse. It turned your own weapon against you. Although, you did well to start singing, most people are unable to. Its power radiates from the walls, the floor, and even the sky above: so great is its venom. The best way to stay sane is to sing cheerfully about anything at all. Joy and laughter, these are the antithesis to the Malutiones, and why it hates them more. At least, that is what we Songbyrds teach our young.

"Sometimes it is easy to avoid the Malutiones' Domain. It is like what we see before us: a place the sun dares not shine too brightly. It is almost its own entity here in the Labyrinth, instead of a part of a larger one the way most places are. Sometimes, however, it creeps in on a person. They believe they are going somewhere else and then belatedly find themselves wandering its twisted home. Very few actually seek it out."

With a start Sarah realized that that was precisely what Draven was doing. He was trying to get in, or through, the Malutiones' Domain. After all, he had been strolling through it when she ran into him.

"Draven, you aren't going to go back in there, are you?"

He looked down at her, "Of course. Just as you are on a quest, so am I."

"What could possibly lead you into that awful place?"

"To earn my place among my people I must venture out of the Labyrinth."

"Surely there must be other ways out other than through there!"

"Yes, of course there are other ways out of the Labyrinth. Yet, if I were to do that, my journey would be for nothing. I must follow the path that was set before me."

_Who's twisted philosophy came up with that idea? What's wrong with making your own path?_ She thought.

"If I ever want my bindings off I must do as I was instructed," he said. Then he titled his head and smiled at her. "You know little about the ways of the Labyrinth. Before I go I will give you a little more help so that you may stay out of trouble.

"First, if you follow this path it will lead you out of the gardens and toward the Castle. At the end of the gardens it will break off into different paths. I do not know how many it will separate into, as it tends to change. However, I do know that if you take the path that seems to lead toward the Castle it will actually take you away from it. If you wish to reach the Castle take the path that seems to lead away from it.

"Next, nothing is what it seems in this place. Don't take anything for granted. What may seem like a gift offered in friendship could actually be a potentially hazardous trick. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she replied, thinking: _that must be the third time someone has warned me not to take anything for granted._

"Finally, rarely is anything given freely here. If you have been offered advice in the past, accept it for what it is and don't question it. However, you owe me a debt for saving your life." Her eyes went wide as he plucked a feather from the crest on his head and placed it in her hand, "I don't know if I'll ever call it in. Keep this feather with you so that if you do ever need to make well your debt you will know. It's nothing personal, but a Life Debt is one of the few things that a person can't swindle their way out of in here. Remember that too, Abovegrounder."

Completely flabbergasted, Sarah watched him stride back into the Malutiones' Domain without a backward glance singing – of all things – "Oh What a Beautiful Morning."


	12. Chapter the Twelfth

-- Draven's an interesting fellow, to say the very least. I hope y'all are enjoying the newest installments and that the past two years hasn't dulled any enthusiasm. If all goes well, y'all won't have to deal with any break of that length before this part of the story is finished again. --

Disclaimer: The original concept for _Labyrinth_ was presented by Jim Henson. I am unworthy of licking his boots. The introduction of persons such as Chremslied and Draven come purely from yours truly. Enjoy.

Chapter the Twelfth

"I suppose I'm lucky," she ruminated aloud, trying to figure out what to do with the feather, "he could have expected me to become his constant companion like Chewbacca from _Star Wars_ or something."

"Nope, that would just drive a Songbyrd nuts. They aren't exactly loners ... but they definitely enjoy their ability to experience solitude, and Draven especially so. I would also mind what he said and stay on the path," a voice said from behind her.

Turning around Sarah witnessed the spry bonsai creep down from the rock which she and Draven had been leaning against. Its evergreen leaves rustled softly as it moved. It crept down by lifting its roots and walking on the tips as though it were a ballot dancer. Although somewhat shaken by the sight of a moving tree, Sarah was not as spellbound by the sight as she would have been at the start of her journey.

"And, if I were you, I'd just stick that feather in your hair somewhere such as behind your hair or in that clip."

"Oh, thank-you," Sarah responded a little disconcertedly while taking the tree's advice. "Why should I follow his advice after what he just said about a gift given in friendship, and why should I believe you now?"

"I don't know, why shouldn't you? You have no reason to other than the fact that Draven did save your life. It's something that you have to determine on your own."

"How do I know that I'm making the right choice?"

"You don't," the tree replied in its clear, sonorous voice as it began walking down the path toward the Castle, "until after you witness the consequences of your choice."

Sarah followed, "So do I trust other or always expect a trick?"

"I don't know. That's your own choice. I certainly can't tell you how to live your life."

Sarah grinned. "I was mostly asking myself that. My name's Sarah by the way. How did you know that was Draven?" _In fact, how can you even see and hear me at all for that matter? Not to mention talk._

"My name's Elfriede. Draven's come through here before. We've chatted about the Meaning of Life and other such things. He seems to enjoy wandering.

"I hope you don't mind, but I couldn't help over hearing your conversation with him (the two of you were sitting right under me after all) and I was wondering if maybe you wouldn't mind me accompanying you to the Castle? I've been wanting to go for some nearly fifty years now, but I never seemed to get around to it."

"Why do you want to go to the Castle?"

"Well, there is supposed to be a really good library in there somewhere. The natural science selection alone was at one time rumored to be the most extensive in the entire Underground. I've been hoping to get my branches on some of them," her voice grew softer and took on a conspiratorial quality, "you see, I've been working on a theory and I'm hoping to gather support for my thesis. If I can work out everything in time for the Sesquicentennial Father Oak Convention I may be able to make quite a stir. In fact, I could start a discussion that will be mulled over for centuries."

Elfriede fairly quivered with excitement. Her needles nearly stood straight out and the multiple blue berries decorating her branches turned a more brilliant and shinier shade of blue.

"Ah," Sarah said. She could tell that this as an important matter to Elfriede, but the subject went completely over her head. "I guess that's as good a reason as any to head to the Castle."

"Mmm-hmm. If nothing else I could just weave a tale about going to the City and maybe spark a renewed interest in travel other than the meandering through the Gardens. We would certainly be able to see and do more in the same amount of time."

"Why is that?"

"Well, the Gardens aren't exactly what they appear ... except for maybe the path. It's very unwise to stray from the path if you don't know where you're going. Places are sometimes farther than they seem, and the sizes of things change. Not to mention the fact that sometimes the landmarks get bored staying in the same place and move around."

_Like you?_ Sarah couldn't help but think. "How big are the Gardens?"

"I'm not really sure. I think most of the kudzu know, but I never really had any interest in knowing."

Sarah looked up the path. The Castle loomed in the distance and didn't seem to be coming any closer. No matter how many small hills they passed or streams they crossed it always remained the same distance ahead: too far.

_What do you talk to a tree about?_ Sarah thought after they had been walking in silence for a good while. For Sarah the silence wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but it wasn't easy either.

"Look! We're here," Elfriede said, breaking Sarah out of her reverie. "Oh my, I hadn't realized it would be so difficult."

Sarah only gaped.


	13. Chapter the Thirteenth

-- Chapter the Twelfth turned out shorter than I expected. Oh well, I suppose that's why one isn't supposed to plan things. I believe things are about to take a potentially more convoluted turn for the future (although it may not affect the immediate story as much). Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, I wound up having to rewrite it about three times. Enjoy. P. S. There's an official _Labyrinth_ sequel out now in manga form by Tokyopop with Toby as the main character. --

Disclaimer: The _Labyrinth_ original story and characters belong to Jim Henson. Characters such as Draven and Elfriede are mine.

Chapter the Thirteenth

When Draven had warned her about choosing the path, Sarah had been expecting to find somewhere between two and five. It may also be noted that Elfriede (a Labyrinth denizen since she was a seed) was expecting to find no more than twenty or so. The paths before her could never be considered small numbers.

None of the paths looked completely the same. Many of them branched off from the immediate path; others were from completely new paths that then further split. The many paths leading out of the Gardens all ventured to a large field where they further divided. They all snaked around and twisted, but none ever touched another, nor crossed paths. Beyond the field Sarah could see the Castle reaching to touch the sky. She could not begin to tell which path lead to the Castle -- let alone the one that lead away from it.

_Forget being fair! This is down right dirty and sadistic. I bet Jareth's up there somewhere rubbing his hands and cackling like a madman_, Sarah thought indignantly.

"I wonder if Draven knew it could be something like this," Elfriede mused aloud.

"I'm not quite sure that I care if Draven knew or not. I just want to get my brother back and go home and take a nice hot bath."

As soon as she said it Sarah realized it was true. She still felt worn out by her encounter with the Malutiones' Domain. Not to mention the fact that she was beginning to get hungry and she felt sore all over. She probably would have kissed a toad for the ability to be home with Toby safe in bed.

"Well, the only way to do that is to do that is to do it and to accomplish that we must march ever onward: valiant knights fulfilling our quest," Elfriede said with conviction and no little bit of humor.

Sarah smiled, "Yeah. No one ever got anywhere by standing still. But which path do we take?"

"None of the ones going straight towards the Castle seems to be before us. None of the paths that seem to curve toward the Castle eventually ..." Elfriede continued on suggesting which possibilities to disclude for another several minutes.

Sarah took note of which paths were beginning to be left out of the list. At times her eyes crossed and she felt as though the whole situation was hopeless. By the time Elfriede stopped her listing they'd narrowed the path down to three choices.

Two of the paths lead off to the right, they seemed to run parallel for the most part and then they both curved away from the Castle. One path was black as midnight blue and the other white as a pale pink rose. The third path lead off to the left and seemed to enjoy emmulating a river what with all its snaking and curving, not to mention its blue-green colour.

"Alright then: right or left?" Elfriede asked.

"Right," Sarah said, ignoring the left (just looking at it made her queasy).

"Okay then, let's take the dark one as the lighter one is closer to the Castle in relation to the dark one."

"I guess that's as good a logic as any," Sarah said, shrugging.

They began walking down the path. As they walked a change occurred that was so gradual that Sarah was only aware that they were not approaching the filed until it had no longer been in view for a good five minutes. The path was no longer a black, midnight blue but ... almost ... well, it was hard to tell.

The path was definitely still there and they were definitely walking on it ... but what they were walking on Sarah could not tell. The surrounding area was no longer clear and sunny, instead a slow mist had crept in and had turn into a thick fog -- although the fog never became so thick as to obscure the path itself.

"Where are we?" Sarah whispered.

"I don't know," Elfriede sounded almost nervous, "I've never left the Gardens before."

It was the strangest walk Sarah had ever experienced. With every step she took she felt a growing sense of de je vu. She couldn't help but fell as though the path was familiar to her, as though it was one she walked every day.

"Why does this path seem so familiar?" Elfriede asked.

"I don't know," Sarah answered as though in a daze, "it's ... it's as though it were a dream."

Before them the mist slowly parted to reveal a cottage. It seemed dilapidated although not to the point of being condemned. Vines crept up the sides and embedded themselves in the mortar, and some had had blossoming flowers. The blossoms resembled wild roses and dogwoods with blooms ranging from red scarlets to vibrant purples to navy blues ... but all the colours seemed muted. Still in a daze Sarah and Elfriede approached the weathered wooden fence before the house.

"Stop!" a voice called out before they could approach the sagging gate.

Shaking off her sleepiness Sarah blinked and looked down. Before here was the opened gate of the fence and standing on the edge of the pass was what looked like a pale violet lizard with sickly yellow spines. The brown eyed creature looked Sarah in the eye.

"You mustn't come in here. The mistress isn't here at the moment. And the master ... oh, the master is ... oh dear," the lizard-like thing mewled softly.

Sarah blinked again, "What?"

"Oh!" Elfriede exclaimed, "You're a wyrm aren't you?"

The lizard thing (_Wyrm_, Sarah thought hastily) reared up on his hind legs and puffed out his chest in indignation. "Of course I'm a wyrm! Who else could possibly protect my mistress's abode so well?"

"Why is it just your mistress's, why isn't it your master's too?"

The wyrm settled back on all fours and looked a bit abashed. "It's complicated. Mistress actually has two masters. Or maybe no master and two lieges. Yes, that's a better way of putting it."

"Then why do you only refer to one if there are two or what-have-you?" Elfriede queried.

"Well, I suppose mistress is in service to one and loaned to the other. Except not," the wyrm looked perplexed.

"What is she? A courtesan or something?" Sarah asked, befuddled.

"Sweet sapphires: NO!" the wyrm shouted. "I can't help it if her employment may be unorthodox but she's perfectly respectable."

"Then what is she, where is she, and why does she have a house here?" Sarah practically demanded.

The wyrm blinked. "Why, she's the story keeper (or records teller) of course. And she's not here, she's ... stuck. A little like master, except not at all. Oh, I'm so confused."

_You're confused_, Sarah thought sarcastically, letting out a growl of frustration.

"Alright, never mind then," she let out an exasperated sigh. "We're just trying to find the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. Do you know how to get there?"

The wyrm cocked his head. "Jareth's Castle? Why, it's behind you of course. After all, it's in the Labyrinth."

Sarah looked at the wyrm and got very quiet and very still. "What do you mean," she asked very, very slowly, "by 'it's in the Labyrinth'?"

"Well, you're about to leave it of course now aren't you? After all, mistress's house boarders both of the liege's lands."

"So we were inadvertently leaving the Labyrinth?" Elfriede asked.

"Well, if you weren't purposefully leaving it, then it could be construed as inadvertently leaving," the wyrm stated with amusement.

Sarah took a deep breath, scowling. "Alright, we are just about to leave the Labyrinth. How do we make sure we get back into it and how do we reach the Castle?"

"Eh?" the wyrm blinked. "Why all you have to do is go back the way you and you'll be in the Labyrinth. Not that you could get very far going forward anyway," this last bit he mutter almost under his breath.

_I wonder why that -- wait, it doesn't matter because I need to get to the Castle._ "And the Castle?" Sarah prompted.

"Well, I don't really know about that part really," the wyrm shrugged. "I've never been there. Why would I go? My duty is toward my mistress."

"Is it possible for us to check the records then, and see if there's some kind of map?" Elfriede inquired.

The wyrm shook his head vehemently. "Not while mistress is away. She's in charge of the books. You might read something you're not supposed to. Besides, there are no maps of the Labyrinth, just ways to get places."

"That ridiculous!" Sarah shouted.

"So much for lack of censorship," Elfriede muttered.

"Well, the Labyrinth's always changing, isn't it?" the wyrm continued, unruffled, "Certain ideas are always together, but they aren't static."

_Argh! Why couldn't this be like those hedge mazes, confusing but stable?_ Sarah bemoaned to herself.

"However, I see no reason why you should up back where you started ... or at least close to it."

Sarah just shook her head, "Well, thanks anyway."

"Oh, no problem," the wyrm said in a friendly sort of way. "Just watch out, every now and again rouge nightmares do wander about."

And with that the wyrm disappeared into the not-exactly-rose bushes.

Sarah looked at Elfriede, eyes wide. "What do you think it meant by that?"

Elfriede shrugged (inasmuch as a bonsai can be said to shrug), "I don't really know. I never knew nightmares could go rogue."

_That's not exactly what I meant_, Sarah thought.

"Let's not linger here," Elfriede suddenly stated, "we're apparently on a border land of some sort that is abridging hostile territory, and I don't believe the wyrm will let us onto his mistress's property if she's not here even if something nasty does come along."

"Good idea."

Turning abruptly the two preceded back down the path from whence they came. Sooner than Sarah thought possible the midnight path turned back into creamy cobblestones and the foggy weather again grew clear. But instead of a clear plain, hedges began to grow up along the sides of the path very much like the head-maze Sarah thought she would have preferred earlier.

"What rotten luck! Where is the Castle? I can't see over these hedges." Sarah grumbled.

"I don't suppose it will matter which way the Castle is 'til we get to a cross road," Elfriede pointed out.

_It's still not very fair_, Sarah thought. _Wait a minute! I was just hoping for a hedge maze earlier so I can't be thinking that! Oh, damn. Just, damn._

"Wait a moment," Sarah stopped, "do you hear something?"

"Umm," Elfriede hummed, "it seems to me that the breeze carries a faint sound of clanking and ... a voice."

"I think it's coming from the other side of the hedge!" Sarah exclaimed. She continued walking and quickened her pace.

Within a few moments the quiet noise had become a distinct sound of a muttering and clanking. As Sarah had supposed, it was coming from he other side of the hedge, and, as they rounded the only corner available, they nearly stumbled against the noise maker.

"Oh," Sarah said, "it's you."


End file.
